20 September 2009

rivington trail half marathon

the alarm goes off at 5.30, immediately jane states she's not had any sleep. from the look of her i believe it, there's also evidence of (last resort) benylin in the bathroom. i manage to persuade her to eat breakfast and sleep in the car.

a few hours later we're in rivington. at 9am i wake jane up and tell her it's an hour to the start of the race. the power nap, some gatorade and vikki arriving seem drag her into a more awake state.

jane's plan was to stick to a 10.5 minute mile pace. which given the undulating nature of the course would be tough. but like a machine she finished bang on schedule. her first ever half marathon. off road. 2 hours and 19 minutes. i'm dead proud. vikki wasn't far behind and i'm equally chuffed for her (but not in a weird patronising way!)

my plan was to treat it like my 'long run'. no racing but i wanted to finish strong and not totally wasted. scrapped in just under 2 hours. mission accomplished and another boost to my confidence.

also out running today was julbags. we've never met in person before. i decided to introduce myself as she's nearing the finish line. but despite this strange stalking behaviour she joined us, amy and ali, glyn and flipper for post race analysis at the pub.

the race was a great way to get a taste of an area i've never been to. a good course and good company made for a perfect start to the weekend.

**once back home it was a quick change and into town, fueled by kebabs and cocktails, to celebrate a friends' birthday. despite my recent 'liver training' i've had to leave early. sleep is calling...

12 comments:

ultra collie said...

loving your sense of leadership to marshall the troop(s)
nice time too. did you walk? ;)

trio said...

Fab day, pics n ali's flickr!

kate said...

uc- i am the leader of the pack-you must obey ;)

trio- cheers, link sorted. have a great day riding round in circles ;)

Runningbear said...

Well done to both - a great start to Autumn racing. Have you talked yourselves into any more adventures at the pub...?

starfish264 said...

I'm impressed with all 3 of you, since I'd have been walking the whole thing! Awesome stuff!

jumbly said...

I'm so glad you both came up to do this, it made running round until my legs hurt actually seem like fun.

kate said...

rb- no more pub, well at least not for today!

starfish- thanks, and what's more impressive is that jane's only been running 18 months. she started out as someone who used to skive PE at school!!

jumbly- it was a great day out. equal time spent between running and sitting in the pub!!

Martin Rye said...

Well done to Jane, and you.

Red Bike said...

Teakate: you're just too quick!

Jane was ill but still ran a 1/2 marathon!!! - Wow.

The four of you are making me feel very lazy now.

Pedalling Polarcherry said...

well done to you & Jane. You both did awesome by the sounds of it. Beautiful day for it too!

Shelly said...

Excellent job :) Well done all.

Post race carbo loading at the Pub is a sound idea.

kate said...

thanks guys, messages passed onto jane :)